The spiritual adventure is a timeless and continual event. In the background the runners are in a pack; they do not run alone and they do not run to win, they run together. Along the way we help each other. Service to others is the goal and the finish line. There is no race, no winners and no losers outside of our own minds.
    
    In the foreground someone has fallen and others are there to assist. Their bodies function as one, almost indistinguishably as they to work together to make everyone able and lesson the burdens of those most afflicted. When you know that you are simultaneously all of the runners in the pack, the runners who have stopped to help,the runner who has fallen and those that go by; then you are aware of the God in each of us -- but this is no easy task with the persistent burden of an ego. We must balance our own life so that at any moment we can accept the service of being any one of the runners. We serve by realizing our individual surrender to God. We serve by sharing our love. We serve by doing what we can to be there for others. And we serve by suffering with dignity and having the grace to ask for help and accept what is given when we are in need.